Saturday 26 January 2008

Great Artists

I love discovering new artists, this is actually someone i've loved for a long time, but it's possible he's not as well known abroad or right now as he was here once upon a time. Patrick Woodroffe is a British artist, best known for fantasy / sci fi art but he's also done a lot of children's books. Anyway, he's one of my favourites, so here's some images to inspire!






This is by no means the best selection, the best images i've seen are in his book 'A Closer Look at the work of Patrick Woodroffe' where he explains some of the techniques he uses to create his oil paintings. He also paints on plastic and cuts it to create images of fantastic creatures which he places in real surroundings and photographs. I think he's wonderful, and the main point is that he always aims to present a positive and uplifting message in his art.

He reminds me a lot of Terry Gilliam in that respect. I read something Gilliam said once which I loved but I can't find anywhere online, so to paraphrase - People often think that making fantastical art in terrible times is burying your head in the sand, but this is precisely the time when imagination is most needed.

1 comment:

Gretel said...

I have loved Patrick Woodruff's weork for a very long time...(I think many people of my age all went through the Roger Dean phase, but Woodruff remains a top favourite). and I have 'A Closer Look' too, which is just absolutely fascinating - in fact I'm going to go and find it now, and re-aquaint myself with it.